Brandon Ingram gets called out by NBA champions over postgame comments

The Toronto Raptors didn’t get off to an ideal start against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs. Poor defense, a lack of cohesion on offense, and high turnovers led to a 126-113 loss. Afterward, Brandon Ingram called out head coach Darko Rajakovic for his strategy.

Essentially, he criticized Rajakovic for using him as a screener and limiting him to nine shots. Those comments didn’t win him fans among former NBA champions, per Omer Osman of Raptors Updates. Among them are Paul Pierce, Tony Allen, and Danny Green.

Pierce gave Rajakovic the benefit of the doubt.

“For him to go to the press conference and say coaches made me a screener, or me getting 9 shots, that has nothing to do with coaches[…] you a number one (option), you an all-star, that’s not their fault,” Pierce said. ““If you sitting there, and you just sitting back to the side… no. Be vocal about that. If I got one shot at the end of the first quarter, and I’m our number option, there’s a problem. There’s definitely a problem.” “Is Brandon Ingram the guy on this team? Is he the guy? Get the rebound, and bring it up, and do something with it. Say something in the timeout!” “I always get mad at players that go to the press conference after, who the number one option, talking about, ‘I only got this many shots.’ No, that ain’t happening, homie.”

Meanwhile, Green said it was premature to say something like that.

“I’m just not a fan of the press conference,” Green said. “If the series is over, then you can say some things that you saw that happened. But after game one. Maybe Darko was trying to use screening to get you to mismatch to switch off. But, you be a screener and still demand the ball. Set a good screen, get the mismatch, go get the ball. They need a floor general. That’s probably why you’re missing (Immanuel) Quick’. But yeah, he didn’t need to speak on it. That’s not a good sign from Brandon Ingram. I don’t know, man.”

Allen echoed that sentiment of not waiting until the series is over.

“For him to get up there and say that, I’m like ‘ahh.’ Too early (in the series), though,” Allen said. “I can see if that was Game 6 or 7.”

Ingram finished Game 1 with 17 points and four assists. Toronto is without guard Immanuel Quickley for Game 2 due to right hamstring strain.

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